Health Watch: New Government Program Helps Moms-To-Be Stay Informed Via Text
PHILADELHPIA (CBS) - The government is going high tech to protect pregnant moms and babies.
Making medicine more mobile. That's the goal of a new program for moms-to-be. It's designed to help reduce premature births and improve newborn health by getting accurate information to women so they can take better care of themselves and their babies.
Cell phones are everywhere. Texting is now all the rage. And for new mom Stephanie Harris, it's how she communicates with family and friends.
And it's what helped her while she was pregnant with her daughter Desiere.
"It just starting sending me random messages that I would need to know as my pregnancy progressed," said Stephanie.
She signed up for a government program called text4baby. It's designed to reach mothers who may not have access to a lot of prenatal information.
Text4baby sends three free text messages a week to expectant and new moms. It provides timely and important information about the woman's pregnancy and her baby's first year of life.
"The text messages contain information on critical health topics like immunization, nutrition, oral health, safe sleep and a variety of other issues," said Judy Meehan, with Mothers' Health Advocate.
For moms-to-be, the program even sends texts about signs of labor and how to find care. Women can register online, and the messages are timed to their due date.
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The messages are based on the latest scientific information from leading healthcare organizations and professionals, and include resources where women can get more information or help.
Most cell phone carriers allow women to get this service for free.
For more information on text4baby, click here.
Reported by Stephanie Stahl, CBS 3
